Planned Parenthood ads target GOP on birth control

Planned Parenthood is releasing ads on Friday going after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans for opposing the Obama administration’s birth control coverage policy.

One television ad accuses McConnell of siding with bosses who want to decide whether women get access to birth control at work. The White House policy calls for employer health plans to cover contraception with no co-pays.

“The fact is, Mitch McConnell’s plan could cost Kentucky women and families up to extra $600 a year. That’s just not fair,” it says.

Similar ads are going up online against Republican Sens. Dan Coats of Indiana, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Pat Roberts of Kansas and Reps. Lamar Smith of Texas and Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia.

Those GOP lawmakers signed on to an amicus brief this week defending Hobby Lobby, one of several companies suing the administration over the contraceptive coverage requirement, saying it violates the business owners’ freedom of religion.

Planned Parenthood officials say the ads are part of a new campaign, “Birth Control: We All Benefit,” to help protect the contraceptive coverage requirement, which is part of the health reform law. The group argues that all Americans benefit when women have access to affordable birth control.

“That is what we are going to remind these politicians and bosses who continue to insist that they should be the ones who decide if and when women can access birth control,” Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards said in a statement.

Planned Parenthood declined to say how much it is spending on the television and online ads.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 8:02 p.m. on February 21, 2013.